Nightmare
by Jaden Tao
Summary: A child tries to contact Rukia through dreams. IchigoxRukia
1. First Night

"Rukia" a soft voice called. Rukia looked around and saw a young girl.

"Rukia" the voice repeated. The girl's lips didn't move. "Rukia…take my hand" the voice said. The child held out her pale hand.

"W-who are you?!" Rukia called nervously.

"Take my hand" the voice said again, in the same sing-song voice. Rukia reluctantly took the girl's hand, afraid of what might happen.

There was a blinding light and suddenly the white room was replaced by flames. Rukia slowly looked around, observing that the buildings looked very similar to where Ichigo lived.

Then she spotted something else: Ichigo, on his knees, with a knife in his gut.

"Ichigo" she whispered.

There was chanting and children's laughter.

"Ichigo" she said louder, trying to talk above the noise.

_Ashes…ashes…they all fall dead_

Ichigo fell to the ground, his eyes losing all emotion.

"Ichigo!!!" she yelled, running to his body.

"Rukia" another voice called. This one sounded familiar, similar to the voice of the man in front of her. She looked around, frightened. The little girl disappeared, as well as Ichigo's corpse. Everything around her was going blurry.

Rukia woke up in a cold sweat, looking around, panicked. She looked up and found herself gazing into Ichigo's eyes, which were now filled with concern.

"I-I-Ichigo!" she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He looked at her, confused. This normally outspoken ex-Soul Reaper was now like a small child in the dark, trembling uncontrollably.

"Rukia?" he asked.

She looked up at him, about to say something. She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out were sobs. He put his arm around her and began stroking her hair.

Now it was her turn to give the confused look. This was totally out of character for Ichigo.

"Mind telling me why we're in this awkward situation?" he asked bluntly. That was more like him.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You were saying my name in your sleep. But it wasn't like 'Ichigo! Oh Ichigo!' It was more like I was dead or something" he said. Hearing that was like a knife in Rukia's gut. She physically winced in pain when he said this. "If you're gonna have good dreams about me, better be good dreams" he added.

"Pervert! Any dream I have about you is bad" she snapped. On the outside she was disgusted, but on the inside she was thanking him for being with her.

To be in his arms was so serene, to feel his warmth was so relaxing. Blushing, she snuggled closer to him.

Ichigo tightened his grip on her. As awkward as it felt, he had to confess he enjoyed it.

"So…what happened?" he asked. She thought back to the dream and was filled with pain again.

"It…it's nothing important. It was just a dream…I don't know why I got so worked up about it" she said, looking away from him.

"Rukia…tell me" he said, his voice deepening in seriousness.

"Ichigo…promise me you won't die" she whispered, her eyed welling with tears.

"Is that what happened? Did I die?" he asked. She looked out the window, at the full moon, as a tear rolled down her face.

He turned her face to his and lightly kissed her, causing her to blush.

"There's no way I can die, as long as you're alive. Remember that the next time you have a bad dream" he said.


	2. A child named Haruko

Rukia found herself in the strange white room with the child again.

"Take my hand" the voice said in the all-too-familiar voice.

"No!" Rukia shouted, slapping the girl's hand away. The girl stumbled backwards, surprised and frightened. She quickly recovered and grabbed Rukia's hand.

"I want you to know what happened" she said. There was a blinding light as Rukia was transferred to Ichigo's neighborhood again. There were no hellish flames and the young child was playing with her friends. Ichigo's body was also missing.

Then there was shouting as two men appeared, walking around the corner. All Rukia could her was the loud tone of the voices, she couldn't hear what they were saying. There faces were nothing but blurs. The little girls seemed to hardly notice.

The fight between the two men was ended when one man pulled out a knife and stabbed the other in the gut. The little girls continued playing, completely oblivious.

_Ashes, ashes...they all fall dead_

"Rukia!" a stern voice called. The scene became blurry and was soon replaced by the teacher's face. Almost all of the class was gone. The only one who remained was Ichigo.

"Rukia, you need to get more sleep" the teacher lectured. Rukia nodded, grabbed her bag, and bolted out of the classroom.

She froze when she reached the crosswalk. There before her was the little girl from her nightmares. She turned and quickly ran.

When Ichigo reached the crosswalk the girl was with two boys, both beating her up.

"What's with your outfit?" one boy asked, poking her.

"Yeah, did you find it in the garbage?" the other boy teased. The girl looked at the ground quietly, wishing they would leave...or at least die. They continued to harass her but soon got bored.

"Let's go" the first said.

"Yeah" the second agreed, pushing her to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell them off?" Ichigo asked, walking over to her. She looked up, tears in her eyes. She got up and ran away as he opened his mouth to ask another question.

"What's your name?" he called after her.

"Haruko" a young girl's voice said.

"Wait...Haruko!" he called. The little girl turned around. "Fight back next time" he said, slightly smiling. She nodded and walked away.

"Now...where's Rukia?" he asked himself,scratching his head.

"Ichigo!" Kon's voice shouted in the distance. The little stuffed lion ran towards Ichigo, going as fast as his little cotton legs would carry him.

"Kon, we went through this. You can't go running through the neighborhood. It's not every day that people see a running toy" Ichigo lectured, feeling slightly embarrassed that he was talking to a toy.

"Yeah yeah. Look, I came here to tell you that something happened to Rukia" the stuffed lion said.

"What? What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

"She was walking, acting normal, and all of a sudden she was on the ground" Kon said, leading Ichigo.

"Where is she?!" Ichigo asked, running ahead.

"She collapsed right outside of your room. Oh! She was moaning something about being stabbed, sleep talking...I think" Kon said, trying to keep up with Ichigo.


	3. Ashes, ashes

Ichigo ran upstairs and found Rukia laying face down in the hall. She was incoherently mumbling something.

"Rukia!" he exclaimed, kneeling next to her. He shook her, trying to wake her up. He shook her harder, still waiting for some kind of response. He was shaking her as hard as he could, but she still wouldn't wake up.

"Rukia!" he shouted in her ear. There was no sign that she could even hear him. He picked her up and put her in his bed, rather than sticking her in the closet. He pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down, waiting for her to wake up.

She was in the same dark neighborhood that she knew too well. The child was playing with her friends, singing the same chant that now haunted Rukia's memories. Any minute now, any minute and the two men would come around the corner, shouting at each other.

"You owe me, Kurosaki!" one man shouted.

"People die, life goes on. We tried to save your wife" the other man, Isshin Kurosaki, said.

"I'm not talking about that! You know what you owe me!" the first man shouted.

"I don't have it! I have three children! I can't afford to pay you" Isshin yelled.

"I don't give a damn! I have a sister to raise!" the other man shouted. Haruko looked over at the two men, one of them being her older brother.

Her brother grabbed Isshin and shouted "You'd better find a way to get the money" his voice lowered, "or I'll kill you."

"Is that so, Haru?" Isshin asked, smirking. Haru looked down as Isshin slowly pulled the knife out of his gut. The silence was filled with young laughter as Haruko's friends fell to the ground, ending with the verse that scared Rukia the most.

_Ashes...ashes...they all fall down_

Suddenly Rukia was in the white room again. The young girl stood in front of her, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Help me! Help me catch the bad man who killed my brother! Please!" she sobbed.

"I-I-I can't do that" Rukia said, backing away.

"Please..." Haruko whispered.

"No...he's..." Rukia began.

"My brother is dead because of him!" she screamed.

"No! It was just a dream! Leave me alone!" Rukia shouted, falling to the ground. She had to escape. She had to free herself from this nightmare. The white room was fading into another scene. A strangely familiar place. She was lying in Ichigo's bed.

She sat up slowly, looking around. She looked up at Ichigo's concerned face, into his fearful eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, concern filling his voice.

"I...your...nothing" she stuttered.


End file.
